Chapter 369

Stilran's recent rapid industrial advancement has allowed the empire to quickly pull ahead of its neighbors and firmly secure the top position in the realm.

During this period of explosive productivity, Stilran does not strictly regulate manufacturing, but it remains exceptionally cautious with explosives and gunpowder.

All companies licensed to manufacture explosives must be under surveillance and must establish factories at designated locations.

In the southeastern region of Grimlan, there are no legally registered explosive factories, but Raven found a multi-domain chemical plant: Gnaer Chemical Factory.

Their outwardly sold products have nothing to do with gunpowder or explosives, but their production processes inevitably use key raw materials required for steam explosive manufacturing.

More importantly, they discharge toxic wastewater during production.

According to police records, residents living downstream from Gnaer Chemical Factory have reported that at night, the river water flowing from upstream turns colorful and emits a pungent stench.

Severely polluted water sources have rendered nearby soil and water slightly toxic; often, when it rains, people feel nauseous and dizzy.

Southeastern Grimlan, midnight, and the Colorful River—these three pieces of intelligence perfectly match the decoded clues.

Coupled with the fact that the entire surface of the Hills River, which runs through Grimlan, is now coated with a layer of colorful oil slick, the connection between the two is even clearer.

Now that the target is confirmed, there is no time to waste; Wu Chang and the others located the registered address of the chemical plant and prepared to depart immediately.

This confrontation with the Steam Council may escalate prematurely into a full-scale battle; at this level of combat, native Mystic Knights are useless and would only hinder players' ability usage.

Even Wu Chang's use of spatial magic drew constant questions from Raven; if players unleashed abilities that were hard to explain, they might attract suspicion.

So he cited the risk of exposure due to too many people and stayed behind at headquarters with Raven, ready to provide support and respond to other emergencies.

Zhenwo led the players straight toward the chemical plant at maximum speed.

Wu Chang had never been to southeastern Grimlan and hadn't left a teleportation array nearby; to reach the target quickly, they needed suitable transportation.

At this moment, the quiet woman from the Bureau's five-member team stepped forward.

When joining the Mystic Knights registry, Wu Chang had heard the woman's name: Tuyou.

Tuyou is an energy-specialized player, weaker than Leng Shan and Xiang Jianxing, stronger than Negotiator and Bai Ma, ranked seventy-fifth on the combat leaderboard.

Her transmutation skill allows her to imbue her clay figurines with life, turning them into real entities that possess combat capability and can self-detonate at the final moment.

Wu Chang watched Tuyou act, expecting her to mold giant horses or even flying dragons—but instead, she quickly shaped a minivan.

Tuyou channeled her energy into the clay figurine; the palm-sized lump instantly expanded into a real vehicle.

Wu Chang glanced inside the car's interior—it had digital screens, and when Tuyou spoke, a voice assistant activated, responding that autonomous driving was ready.

Tuyou scanned the paper map of Grimlan with the camera; the car's display automatically generated a navigation map and planned the optimal route based on regional conditions.

Holy shit, so Tuyou's "Infuse Life" ability works on machines too?

Wu Chang had reason to suspect that if Tuyou's transmutation advanced further, she might one day hand-craft a Transformer.

To reach the chemical plant as quickly as possible, Wu Chang chose to manually drive rather than use the car's autonomous system.

After everyone boarded, Shadow activated his ability, turning the entire vehicle into a hazy shadow.

According to the map, the straight-line distance from Bai She Street No. 6 to Gnaer Chemical Factory is nearly twenty kilometers; actual driving distance is between twenty-five and thirty kilometers.

Tuyou advised: "My clay figurines are magical lifeforms. Injecting energy into the steering wheel increases their speed."

"My energy conversion efficiency is high—best to inject only a little at a time. Don't overdo it, or you'll flip the car."

Wu Chang laughed excitedly, flashing a row of white teeth, filling everyone with a bad premonition.

Tuyou's words seemed to flip a switch.

Wu Chang gathered energy and injected five points—maxing out Tuyou's limit—then said:

"All passengers, buckle your seatbelts. We're departing."

The next second, he floored the accelerator; the shadowed minivan became a blur.

Five minutes later, the Tuyou minivan screeched to a halt two hundred meters from Gnaer Chemical Factory. Wu Chang released the steering wheel and said:

"Your clay figurines are fast."

He turned to look behind—the entire group, including Divine Tongue, looked pale as death, like someone who'd ridden ten roller coasters in a row.

Those with weaker stamina, like Booker and Veronica, had already vomited inside the car.

Tuyou took the motion-sickness medicine freshly mixed by Divine Tongue, swallowed it, and said with lingering dread:

"Leader, use autonomous driving on the return trip."

After the group recovered slightly, they crept toward Gnaer Chemical Factory under Shadow's concealment ability.

Under the Steam Council's manipulation, a fifty-meter radius around the factory was shrouded in Steam Root Power; if they advanced further, Shadow's ability would fail. They could only halt at the fifty-meter mark, climbing to a high ground to observe the factory's interior.

Inside the factory, lights blazed brightly; workers moved in constant motion, busy manufacturing something.

Wu Chang saw neither Leng Shan nor Xiang Jianxing, nor Zexier, who had appeared in his resentment vision.

But he noticed one workshop where Steam Root Power was exceptionally dense—without doubt, that was the steam explosive production room.

Attacking this chemical plant differs from attacking the Sloan Textile Factory; this place doesn't produce cloth—it produces steam explosives.

Charging in openly, if the players' strength is insufficient, they may not overcome the Steam Council under the influence of Steam Root Power.

If they all stormed in together, their combat power would be assured—but if the enemy chose to go down fighting and detonated all steam explosives at once, even Wu Chang's Titan title might not survive the blast, according to the Omniscient Crystal's estimated yield.

They must first scout the interior before deciding their next move.

Few players can bypass Steam rules to enter Gnaer Chemical Factory; Wu Chang had exactly one beside him.

He looked at Ma Jia and said: "This time, I'm counting on you."

Ma Jia shrugged and replied: "Didn't you insist I join precisely for situations like this?"

To protect Ma Jia's ability secrecy, Wu Chang ordered everyone to stay put while he left alone with Ma Jia.

As they departed, they targeted a factory supervisor responsible for coordinating shipments. When the supervisor stepped out of the factory to count goods in a carriage parked at the gate, Wu Chang swiftly approached and kidnapped him.

Ma Jia clamped his hand over the supervisor's mouth, signaling silence—but the supervisor refused to cooperate, continuously muffled his screams.

Realizing his voice couldn't penetrate Ma Jia's palm, he bit down on Ma Jia's hand like a zombie, gnawing furiously until blood flowed.

Instead of pulling away, Ma Jia actively pushed the edge of his palm deeper into the supervisor's mouth, sealing it shut.

He ignored his bleeding palm and turned to Wu Chang and said:

"The first time you see me use my ability, it'll seem horrifying—suggest you turn away and don't watch."

In the Silent Passage realm, Wu Chang had already witnessed Ma Jia's parasitic ability through the fisherman's resentment, and said:

"It's fine—just go ahead."

Ma Jia didn't press further; as his ability activated, thick, semi-melted flesh and blood surged out from the bite wound on his palm.

This flesh filled the factory supervisor's mouth and continuously poured into his body.

The factory supervisor's biting force on Ma Jia's palm quickly weakened, shifting from biting to actively swallowing large mouthfuls.

In less than a minute, Ma Jia's flesh had consumed the factory supervisor from within, turning him into part of Ma Jia himself.

After confirming Wu Chang could truly see through his ability, Ma Jia revealed a little of the truth after joining the Secret Law Knights.

Ma Jia's transmutation name is Flesh Invader—he can devour and assimilate targets with his own blood, turning them into extensions of his flesh.

His ability sounds powerful, but has many limitations, and he can only inherit the target's physical body, not their memories.

But once a target is invaded, they truly become him, inheriting some of his bodily attributes, undetectable by nearly all skills, and not rejected by Source Power.

One reason Ma Jia joined the Secret Law Knights was to find out how Wu Chang saw through his ability.

If Flesh Invader had a glaring weakness, he'd have time to prepare defenses and countermeasures in advance.

After successfully occupying the factory supervisor's body, Ma Jia made the supervisor rise from the ground, moved around to adapt to the body's strength and weaknesses, then turned and returned to the chemical plant.

Ma Jia's invasion mixed his own flesh with the target's—he couldn't inherit the target's memories, but could inherit their muscle memory, making his walking, movements, and expressions nearly identical to the original's, with no flaws.

Added to the chemical plant's chaotic bustle, where no one had time to observe whether he seemed odd, Ma Jia slipped into the plant effortlessly, openly circled the entire facility, then exited with the next shipment.

He returned to Wu Chang's side and recounted everything he saw inside the chemical plant.

Using the factory supervisor's identity, Ma Jia investigated the suspicious workshop Wu Chang mentioned.

Due to the chemical plant's severe environmental pollution, precipitation in the surrounding area was not only toxic but also highly corrosive; multiple spots on the workshop's roof showed clear signs of repair.

He used the bodily attributes inherited from his panel to climb to the roof, pried open the repaired sections, and peered through the Kong Dong to see inside.

The instruments inside the workshop differed from those in other workshops; based on the production line types, they were indeed manufacturing steam explosives.

He also saw the suspicious black-robed figures Wu Chang had described, surrounding the instruments.

But the quantity of steam explosives piled inside was small—similar to the amount found in the modified bodies at Saint George Square—and there were only two black-robed figures inside, not the large group Wu Chang had suspected.

After leaving the steam explosive production workshop, he thoroughly patrolled the entire chemical plant and confirmed only two black-robed figures existed within.

Hearing Ma Jia's report, Wu Chang couldn't help frowning.

The anomaly caused by the Gernal Chemical Plant now enveloped all Grimlan; ordinary people and transcendents alike were weakened by the Great Stench.

This Great Stench was undoubtedly tied to their grand operation—but now that the source had been found, the Steam Council members were nowhere to be seen. Where had they and the vanished steam explosives gone?

Wu Chang's physical body in the West District, disregarding the weak power of the native knights, ordered them to scatter and search for traces of the Steam Council members.

To ensure the Steam Council hadn't smuggled steam explosives into the West District to detonate them and wipe out the Stilan high command in one blow.

Meanwhile, he controlled his True Self to continue handling the chemical plant incident.

Since the Steam Council had left only two people in the plant, the problem became much simpler.

He had Divine Tongue and the others remain outside to intercept any transcendents fleeing from the plant, or temporarily block returning large groups of Steam Council members, buying them time.

He selected only Sha Yi Bodong, who possessed Master-level martial arts and dual strengths in strength and agility, to infiltrate the plant with him and Ma Jia to eliminate the opponents.

Wu Chang and Sha Yi Bodong knocked out two large freight handlers, swapped clothes with them, and followed Ma Jia into the chemical plant.

Following the route Ma Jia had previously explored, they advanced along less crowded paths, sneaking up to the steam explosive manufacturing workshop.

The Source Power of steam around the steam explosive manufacturing workshop was denser than in the Soul Weaving Machine's workshop.

Not only were energy-based skills unusable, but even passive skills requiring no energy, yet unrelated to steam rules, began to be suppressed.

Sha Yi Bodong had a solid foundation—his martial arts ability remained unaffected—but Wu Chang's Master-level martial arts, though not downgraded in rank, dropped to Zhao Yan's level.

However, the suppressed passive skills were limited to those outside steam rules—his firearms proficiency and Master-level mechanical driving were unaffected, even slightly enhanced.

The three climbed to the workshop roof, mimicking Ma Jia's earlier method, and first locked onto the positions of the two black-robed figures.

Wu Chang and Sha Yi Bodong each selected one target, positioning themselves directly above them, while Ma Jia moved above the steam explosive manufacturing instrument.

After Wu Chang signaled the action, all three smashed through the floor beneath them and dropped down into the workshop.

Their sudden appearance left everyone inside the workshop unable to react.

Sha Yi Bodong used his falling momentum to deliver a downward diagonal kick as he neared the ground, striking one Steam Council member.

With the full force of a Master martial artist's kick, the targeted Steam Council member's bones—except his skull—shattered nearly everywhere; he collapsed instantly, unconscious.

Even if healed, such injuries would leave him drooling for life.

On Wu Chang's side, his Master-level martial arts being suppressed made him uncertain about force control; to ensure a single strike would disable the Steam Council member and prevent him from detonating the steam explosives, he not only used Mamba Iron Elbow to guarantee a hit, but also struck with full power.

Full power with 339 strength points.

One elbow slammed into the target's face, producing the sound effect of a balloon bursting.

Pah!

With a crisp crack, the target's head exploded into a mist of blood.

Ma Jia, targeting the steam explosive machine, faced only ordinary workers—he didn't need to fight as hard as the other two; he simply needed to rush forward before they reacted and knock them out with a palm strike.

In moments, only three people remained standing in the workshop.

Wu Chang, out of sight from the others, retrieved the Omniscient Crystal; guided by its direction, he shut down the transcendental steam machine producing the steam explosives.

As the transcendental steam machine ceased operation, the colorful steam Source Power continuously discharged with waste liquid abruptly stopped.

The Great Stench, thick in the air and seemingly impossible to disperse, rapidly faded; the rainbow hues on the Hills River also diluted and faded as the water flowed.

Having eliminated the source of the Great Stench, Wu Chang, as before, followed the Omniscient Crystal's guidance to locate the core of the transcendental steam machine.

It was a precision mechanical cylinder, as large as a human head, spinning constantly within.

"Item Name: Transcendental Vapor Separator"

"Item Type: Special"

"Item Skill: Atomized Transcendence."

"Skill Description: Shatter the power of Transcendence into a mist state, separate it from impurities, and adsorb it onto special crystals to form a new type of transcendent explosive—Atomized Explosive."

"Item Skill: Transcendent Separation" (King's Badge unlocked)

"Skill Description: Transcendence is hidden within the rules of the planes. Turn the instrument, and you can directly separate the power of rules in the air into transcendent mist and transcendent poison gas, without needing transcendent items."

"Note: If you ignore the transcendent poison gas discharged, the Transcendent Separator can be called one of the greatest transcendent steam engines."

Wu Chang and the others gathered up all the atomized explosives in the workshop, used the Omniscient Crystal to confirm nothing was left behind, then left the chemical plant with Ma Jia and Killing Intent Fluctuation.

He placed the Transcendent Atomizing Separator in front of everyone, signaling each person to dab some on. Every player who touched it had a line of prompt pop up before their eyes.

"You have obtained a jewel upon the industrial crown."

Seeing the main quest two of the S-rank instance completed so easily, excitement shone in everyone's eyes, and they could not help sighing that they had chosen the right side.

Peace truly is the strongest monster newcomer of the Wasteland Realm. Joining the faction he belongs to, clearing instances is indeed no problem.

Just as the True Self side's operation was a great success, cutting off the source of the Great Stink, Wu Chang's main body received intelligence sent by Zhu Li.

Almost at the same moment the transcendent steam engine manufacturing steam explosives was shut down, members of the Steam Parliament took advantage of people being weakened by the Great Stink and attacked the Royal Small Arms Factory.

They seized the transcendent steam engine stored in the deepest part of the small arms factory, called the Demon-Breaking Steam Punch Press.

The demon-breaking bullets the secret police used against transcendent beings were precisely manufactured by that machine.

Wu Chang still remembered the evaluation of the Demon-Breaking Steam Punch Press in the notes—that machine was the core of Stilann's suppression of transcendent beings.

(End of this chapter)